DrCoolZic wrote:Steven,Sorry to bother I must do something stupid but I have problems with CAPS First in the source on sourceforge two include files CapsLib.h and Comlib.h are missing from the 3rdparty/caps directory ???Where did you get the files in this directory? from ipfdevlib_win32, from ipfdevlib_win_x64, from ipf_source4.2 ? or a combination ???I am stuck with a linker error (compilation now goes through ) LNK1104 cannot open file ../../caps/CAPSIMG.lib and whatever I try fails this is driving me nuts Not even sure if linker is trying to read or write this file

Oops... you're right.As it's very important as an open source project, I just commited the 2 missing files ([r19] Add 2 missing files).This points to a problem, I haven't tried to download and build from scratch.The linker problem, it could be more complicated, Steem uses 'delay loading', it's different in VC6 and BCC5.5, also lib files are different, who knows in your version?

I can see CapsLib.h but it is different from my version ???? so TurtoiseSVN indicates conflictcomlib.h are same

For delayed load the linker does not like it but ignore: LNK4229 invalid directive /delayload:CAPSImg.dll encountered; ignoredso the problem seems to be different.But were did you get the CAPSImg.lib from? Is this suppose to be an input? did you generated it or did you got it from SPS?

if undefined does not change much still getting invalid directives (3 warnings instead of 5) in emu.obj & steem.obj for CAPSImg and unrar.dll

Still cant find my linker problem ???? I was suspecting X86 vs X64 pb but it something else.But I really wonder were you took the files in caps from ??? they apparently do not match the latest ipfdevlib_w32.zip released?

DrCoolZic wrote:if undefined does not change much still getting invalid directives (3 warnings instead of 5) in emu.obj & steem.obj for CAPSImg and unrar.dll

Did you try with the last version I uploaded yesterday? It sounds like VS2012 doesn't like the lib format used by VC6? Like I said it's up to you if you want to add a compiler I don't have on my system, I can't help much.

But I really wonder were you took the files in caps from ??? they apparently do not match the latest ipfdevlib_w32.zip released?

I also don't like all this off-topic discussion, after all the topic's goal is to attract attention of users/players to exciting new features, and now there are lots of obscure development considerations.

It doesn't matter if most of us don't understand most of the discussion Now everyone see how hard it's to emulate properly our machines... and how persevering you are.Please don't stop and thanx for the great work you make!

Sorry Steven I did not wanted to take the focus away from the new coming features

I wanted to comment the post from AtariZoll with FDCT because I have developed some nice tools that give precise timing info about sector/track on FD (work on real Atari and on PC using IPF and Stream format...) But as this is also technical 'll do that some other place to keep this thread on new features. I am eagerly waiting for 3.5.1 (both exe & source) meanwhile I will try to fix my problems silently

DrCoolZic wrote:But as this is also technical 'll do that some other place to keep this thread on new features. I am eagerly waiting for 3.5.1 (both exe & source) meanwhile I will try to fix my problems silently

The best is to open a thread in this subforum for the VS2012 build, for example, another for CAPS questions,etc., but PLEASE not all problems in the "coming soon" thread. I want the surfer to say "Sentinel, cool!", not "capsimg.lib, WTF?"

Since many STE-only games or demos prefer more memory, RAM will be set to 2MB min when switching to STE model. Easy, useful. And 1MB when going STF will be the most compatible. So it defaults to a 1040 STF. Hey maybe you only had a 520 ST, now you're RICH! Of course you can still change it at your convenience.

With that and auto TOS selection, you're in your armchair, just pick a ST and run the program.

Pasti revisited again! Also, to make life easier with Pasti, the disk manager should be smarter, displaying all images Steem can handle, and enabling or disabling Pasti as needed. For example, you have Blood Money in IPF and STX format, in zip, rar or not. You can see them in the disk manager, and run them. You can run the Union Demo in STX format, then the BIG Demo in DIM format, and so on, without changing the option. The only time you need to change it is when you decide whether your ST and MSA disk images are run by Pasti.dll too.

After that we go even further, with a new SSE option:

Err yes? you may ask. If we don't want to use Pasti for ST and MSA, we just don't select it in the disk manager, right?

Right. Except that with this option, you can now mix STX disk images in one drive with native or IPF emulation in the other drive. Concretely, you can ProCopy simple disks from STX to ST (tested with MPS Golf).

I'm now confident that native Steem drive emulation has better timings than Pasti for simple disk images. The option is there because the technique used may be a bit... unreliable (imagine, when do writes to various chip registers must be handled by Pasti or by Steem?)

Almost forgot this, but didn't, also in medium resolution you get the new display mode combining scanlines and "stretching". You may also like the result, or not, it's kind of realistic, less crisp.

Original scanlines, crisp

New display mode, a touch blurry

We need to be careful, some games like The Pawn (again this one!) mix low and medium resolution. The new display modes are based on little hacks, they won't work yet in such a case, so we need to detect and disable the feature.

Steven Seagal wrote: After that we go even further, with a new SSE option:

Err yes? you may ask. If we don't want to use Pasti for ST and MSA, we just don't select it in the disk manager, right?

Right. Except that with this option, you can now mix STX disk images in one drive with native or IPF emulation in the other drive. Concretely, you can ProCopy simple disks from STX to ST (tested with MPS Golf).

Good job mixing STX and IPF is great. But I am not sure I see the interest of procopying STX and/or IPF to ST? STX or IPF are only interesting if protections are used which ST format does not handle?

DrCoolZic wrote:Good job mixing STX and IPF is great. But I am not sure I see the interest of procopying STX and/or IPF to ST? STX or IPF are only interesting if protections are used which ST format does not handle?

Well it proves that it works fine, and it's useful to convert unprotected disk images with no file structure, I used it for MPS Golf.Maybe there's potential for more.

DrCoolZic wrote:Good job mixing STX and IPF is great. But I am not sure I see the interest of procopying STX and/or IPF to ST? STX or IPF are only interesting if protections are used which ST format does not handle?

Well it proves that it works fine, and it's useful to convert unprotected disk images with no file structure, I used it for MPS Golf.Maybe there's potential for more.

There is a lot of unprotected images in STX or IPF format. At least 30% of available IPF have no any copy protection. So, converting (or just writing ST/MSA img. in emulator) is very useful. And it is always better to have original as src. (for hard disk version) instead some crack with potential errors, missing parts and worst: spoiled txt. or screens with cracker's signo or similar.

Famous Schrodinger's cat hypothetical experiment says that cat is dead or alive until we open box and see condition of poor animal, which deserved better logic. Cat is always in some certain state - regardless from is observer able or not to see what the state is.

Display: new option 'scanlines interpolated', mixing 'stretch' mode with scanline. That way the picture resembles more the display of a colour monitor on a real ST. The option is available in both low and medium resolutions. The option is not in the SSE option tab but in 'Display', it works (or should) for both windowed and full screen modes. Like some other SSE features, it's more a hack than anything. Please don't change while emulation is running, it could crash Steem.Floppy drive: new option to display current drive, side, track and sector. Yes kid, admit it, it was your fantasy, now it's true! The "on screen display" way has been chosen because it's far less involved than messing with status bar/full screen, it just works. Quick win. The option is not in the SSE option tab but in 'On Screen Display'.Disk image name scrolling (same option tab).Floppy drive slow mode (snails in Disk manager) Bugfixes: Decade, War Heli, Noughts and Mad Crosses, probably others. Improvements, based on technical documentation about controller and disk format (gaps): Japtro - fix copied from Hatari (it worked before thanks to compensating emulation imprecisions). ProCopy "Analyze" function (WD1772 'Read address') Microprose Golf loading speed ST-NICCC 2000 Final by Oxygene (STF+STE version) loading speed Sentinel on Automation 001 is now FIXED in slow disk mode, all TOS. At last! FDCTNF.TOS by Petari, but just a hack (check 'Hacks') Note: WD1772 Commands types III and IV haven't been much modified yet.Pasti: toggling Pasti on/off in the disk manager will not force a reset anymore. Smarter disk manager, setting pasti on/off as needed, displaying all images. New option to make Pasti handle only STX images, Steem being in charge of the rest. Interesting possibilities.Timings: more precise STE CPU frequency, more precise STE DMA sound frequency, more precise MFP timers for shorter intervals (HWTST001.PRG).CPU exceptions: value of PC (program counter) in some provoked crashes now based on Motorola microcode analysis! No more vulgar opcode-based hacks in Steem baby (Blood Money, European Demos, Phaleon, Transbeauce 2, War Heli...)CPU fetching in IO zone (Union demo, Warp STX)CPU Bugfix Death of the Clock Cycles (broken by the Aladin fix in 3.5.0)Shifter: fixed Armada is Dead scroller, broken since 3.3 with 'Hacks' on (hack for Big Wobble was conflicting).Added option in 'startup' page to disable DSP (it's buggy/crash-prone). Attempt to reduce aliasing, eg Star Trek - nog very good! If you're annoyed by cracks in samples caused by the filter, uncheck DSP or Microwire.ACIA emulation making a more explicit use of the chip's registers, with some improvements (MIDI: Notator) and bugfixes (Hades Nebula, broken since 3.4)HD6301 IKBD emulation bugfixes. Because we use 3rd party code, we depend in some measure on its structure, which makes some improvements difficult.To reduce code footprint, removed hack that has demos Dragonnels, Froggies, Transbeauce 2 running without 'true 6301 emu mode'.STE auto set RAM to 2MB, STF to 1MB, for better compatibility. Of course you can still change it at your convenience.Option 'Stealth' renamed 'Emu detect' (opposite effect, maybe clearer so).